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SYNOPSIS:
When four pampered animals from New York’s Central Park
Zoo accidentally find themselves shipwrecked on the exotic
Island of Madagascar, they discover it really IS a jungle
out there!
MOVIE
REVIEW
What do you get if you put four talking animals and
chunked them on a deserted island? The answer: An over US$500
million gross in the box-office worldwide. If you are still
feeling lost over it, I’m referring to the box-office
results of this year animation hit, “Madagascar”
from Dreamworks animation who brought you “Shrek”.
The
story opens promisingly enough in the New York’s central
park zoo. Alex the lion (voiced by the rather prolific Ben
Stiller) is the star of attraction and a favourite with the
visitors. He gets special personal treatment, including personal
hair care and luxurious food supplies because of that. And
so does his group of friends, Marty the zebra (voiced distinctly
by Chris Rock), Melman the Giraffe (David “Friends”
Schwimmer) and Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith). A sheltered
and carefree life indeed. But there’s one problem though,
Marty yearns to explore the world rather being confined and
curiosity edges him into escaping the zoo, that’s when
the gang gets into a whole lot of trouble.
While
the whole plotting does not smell of any Oscar’s material,
“Madagascar” raises an interesting premise. People
are always tempted and eager to cross beyond our boundary,
thinking the other side of the grass is greener. But apparently,
things might not fare as well as you thought. The character
Marty at the end is a good old reflection of us. Since this
movie is targeted at the younger crowd, be expected to run
into some random techno song/dance routines and a half-heartened
unexplored plotline. Besides the main leads, you might find
the other supporting characters such as the monkeys and lemurs
immensely entertaining and wacky, the penguins especially
so (there’s a rumor they are going to have their own
movie).
So
how’s the animation in “Madagascar” you
might ask? The rendering is well defined and it’s a
colourful world in “Madagascar”, the kids will
definitely go wild over this colour palette. This vcd will
be a great gift for the little ones and for those accompanying
adults, you can always try to explain further liked the “morale”
of the story. But seriously, kids from the 21st century are
far smarter than we thought. Just leave them alone for 90
minutes of fun and cheap laughs.
MOVIE
RATING:
Review
by Linus Tee
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